Chinese Government Reaction to OWS #nmsm
This document is a subsection of New Media and Social Movements > China's response to Occupy Wall StreetSee also:
The Chinese Government's Reaction to Occupy Wall Street
Because Chinese mainstream media, especially the traditional media, is mainly controlled by the Chinese government it is regarded as a crucial propaganda tool for the government to disseminate its policies and opinion to the public. The media coverage of OWS in the traditional media, to a large extent, provides insight into the government's attitude and reactions related to this social movement.
According to the updated report from CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center), by the end of June 2011, the number of China's internet users has reached 485 millions, and its mobile internet population has increased to 318 millions, which indicates that the new media has become a major part of Chinese mainstream media. In contrast to the traditional media, the majority of the new media in China, especially the most popular new media such as Baidu, Sina, Tencent are private companies rather than being government-owned. Therefore, the government enhances strict internet censorship and the Great Firewall system to monitor the contents on new media platforms to shape public opinion and control potential social risks. Observing the government's actions on censoring content related to OWS is another way to identify its reaction to the movement.
First Stage: Encouraging Media Coverage of the OWS Movement and Inspiring Public Participation in Discussions of OWS and the Evil of Capitalism, Sept. 17 - Oct. 14
News about OWS on the traditional media sites such as CNTV, China Daily, People's Daily, Xinhua News and Global Times, Caijing magazine, Nandu Weekly, China Economic Weekly, etc.
Heavy media coverage and supportive statements of OWS
Criticism of the U.S media's slow response and few reports related to OWS
Second Stage: Crackdown on Media Coverage and Internet Activities related to OWS to Avoid Anti-government Issues, Oct. 15 - Nov.30
Forbidding anti-government messages on the media sites
Limiting and Decreasing media coverage of OWS on the traditional media (see figure below)
References and Resources
1. People's Daily2. Global Times
3. Xinhua News
4. China Daily
5. CNTV
6. SWeekly
7. China Digital Times